Funding

Funding Accommodations

While the majority of accommodations are without cost, there are exceptions. Examples include interpreting, captioning, adaptive equipment/software, and web and media accessibility. Basic funding responsibilities are outlined below.

Student Accommodations and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services

The Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) budget covers most of the costs associated with accommodations for enrolled students with disabilities who are taking courses for credit as well as individuals auditing a course. This includes accommodations necessary for the provision of deaf and hard of hearing services, such as American Sign Language (ASL) interpreting and Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART). The provision of similar accommodations for employment applicants and University employees is also covered through centralized funding managed by SSD.

Although the provision of ASL or CART services is coordinated through SSD, the cost of providing these services for most department and campus events is billed back to the department. As such, units/programs that have the ability to generate revenue are responsible for the cost and should incorporate this into their planning and budget structure. Similarly, the cost of accommodations for events where there is an attendance fee, including, but not limited to, conferences, lectures, and seminars, should be paid from the respective fee income.

Ergonomic Assessments

Individual departments have responsibility for covering the cost of furniture and equipment needed as part of an employee accommodation provision. Employees and their supervisors are encouraged to collaborate and assess whether the department already owns some of the recommended items listed in the report. Another source to check for ergonomic equipment is Surplus Property at the J. Pickle Research Campus. When the department does not own the recommended items and they are not available through Surplus Property, the department should move forward with purchasing the recommended items listed in the report.

Video Captioning

Central funding has been provided to establish the Captioning and Transcription Services Department for strict compliance, which is the captioning of all video (including faculty lectures) when there is a student who is deaf or hard of hearing in the classroom. Central funding is also available for the conversion of VHS/DVDs and other video to captioned video when shown in the classroom in which there is a student who is deaf or hard of hearing. This includes online videos, such as YouTube videos, that are used for instructional purposes.

Funds have also been provided to cover the cost of some captioning of pre-recorded video whether a deaf or hard of hearing individual is enrolled in the course or not. Content that aids in learning and is related to option I and option II courses will be covered by these funds.

Fees will be assessed for video that does not meet the above criteria, including videos on college or school websites, as well as any function that is viewed as public facing and as having a significant impact on the larger community. In these instances, the cost is billed back to the supporting department or unit and transcripts of events will be provided upon request.

Web Accessibility

The Information Technology Services (ITS) Applications – Web and Contract services organization provides accessibility consultation and accessibility scanning tools (e.g., WorldSpace, FireEyes) to assist Web publishers, developers, and Web Portfolio Managers in the remediation of Web accessibility issues and to deliver high-level reports of a site’s accessibility compliance with the statutory requirements in Texas Administrative Code 206.70 Accessibility Standards (TAC 206.70), which references the U.S. Section 508 standards. These reports are submitted on a bimonthly basis to the ADA Coordinator, who disseminates them to deans and vice presidents and thus uses them to monitor accessibility compliance across all areas of the University.

Accessibility scanning and assessments are available at no cost to departments, faculty and staff. To request a WorldSpace scan for University websites, or an accessibility review for a University developed application, departmental contacts may contact the ITS Accessibility Administrator by sending a request to accessibility-assessments@utlists.utexas.edu